Friday, May 9
WILLIAMSTOWN -- Mount Greylock Regional High School now owns a foreign language learning laboratory thanks to a large donation of equipment from Williams College.

"One of the real objectives of foreign language programs is to have kids become fluent in the speaking of a language, not just in the grammar and reading part of it," Superintendent William Travis said on Thursday. "Anything that enhances that is timely, and it's certainly something our budget couldn't afford."

Williams College, which is updating its lab, has agreed to donate at least 14 different items and might possibly give more later on. Susan Murray, the curriculum leader for the high school's language department, said she expects the lab to open in September.

Among the donated items were: Six videocassette players; seven television monitors; one Yamaha amplifier; one Sony audio-visual Control Center; seven tape recorders; one videotape cleaner; and one set of five rolling shelves.

"We thought it was Christmas," Murray said. "We were thrilled."

Nearly all the students in the high school will have the opportunity to learn in the laboratory next year, she said. Students at Mount Greylock take

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language courses in French, Spanish and Latin.

"The equipment we have been using here is so outdated," she said. "The students really need to do a lot of listening and do a lot of speaking to learn a language. Now we can make more recordings of them speaking so I can give them feedback. We'll also set up a bigger listening center."